Survey highlights diet headache

Fruit consumption has increased, says the survey

Britons are eating record amounts of unhealthy "comfort" food, says a survey of the nation's diet.

Chocolate, chips, cakes, and pastries all figure prominently in the National Food Survey 2000.

However, we are also spending more on fruit - and nutrition scientists say that, on balance, our diets are the most wholesome that we have enjoyed for a century.

Even so, obesity rates are spiralling upwards in the UK, because although we are not necessarily eating much more, we are exercising less.

The survey involved detailed diaries of food buying kept by thousands of UK households.

Regional differences

The results revealed the regional divide in diet across the UK.

Highest consuming regions (1998-2000)

Milk - East Midlands

Cheese - South East

Vegetables (all) - South West

Fruit - London

Alcoholic drinks - South East

Soft drinks - Scotland

Confectionary - Wales

The Scots had the lowest consumption of fish, fresh vegetables, fruit and other cereals, and the highest consumption of soft drinks.

The Welsh enjoyed the highest consumption of fats and oils, and proved to have the biggest sweet tooths when it came to sugar and preserves and confectionary.

The highest consumption of alcoholic drinks, and cheese in the home was the south east of England.

Londoners ate the most fish, fresh vegetables and fruit.

However, they were the highest consumers of high calorie foods such as pizzas, ice cream, puddings and curries.

Takeaway favourites

People in the north east of England ate the most chips and meat takeaways, curries, and alcohol in pubs and bars.

Lowest consuming regions (1998-2000)

Vegetables (all) - Scotland

Fruit - Scotland

"Carcase" meat - Wales

Bread - London

Alcoholic drinks - North West

Sales of chocolate biscuits soared by more than a quarter in 2000, and other increasingly popular foods included eggs, beef, chicken, bacon, prawns, pickles mineral water and fruit juice.

The most unhealthy diet falls to 15 to 24 -year-olds, who eat the most burgers, chocolate and sweets.

The average calorific intake of the country has also nudged upwards - to 1,750 calories a day.

Claire MacEvilly, a nutrition scientist with the British Nutrition Foundation, said that while the common perception was of an increasingly unbalanced diet in the UK, the reality was that when it came to balancing the various food groups we need to eat, in fact we have got closer to the ideal, not further away.

She said: "We are spending more than ever before on things like pastries and cakes.

"But one of the most interesting things is that we are getting more towards the correct representation of food groups in our diets."

She added: "The fact that obesity is increasing is perhaps more due to the lack of exercise than our diet."